The nature of gemstones

Two thousand years ago, gemology students classified gems by color alone. They would have considered ruby ​​and red spinel to be the same, simply because they are the same color. But there is a tremendous difference between the two gems.

 

What is a gem?

 

Some gems, such as pearls, amber, coral, and ivory, are organic. This means that they come from plants or animals. But most gems are minerals: natural inorganic materials with specific chemical compositions. Most also have a characteristic structure. You probably already know the names of some minerals commonly found in jewelry: topaz, sapphire, emerald, and ruby, for example. Synthetic gemstones have become increasingly popular like this titanium bracelet, which are exact replicas of the real gem with the strength of titanium.

 

Three traits of all gems.

 

A substance is not automatically considered a gem just because it is used in jewelry or simply because it falls into the category of minerals. Items like bones, seeds, and hair have all been used in jewelry, but that doesn’t put them in the same category as rubies, pearls, and amber. Sometime you will also find gems in tungsten carbide rings.

 

To be a gem, a substance must share three important characteristics with all other gems: beauty, rarity, and durability. However, each trait represents a rank, so all gems can possess different levels of all three traits.

 

Beauty

 

Throughout the centuries, humans have appreciated the color of the brilliance of finished gems. Mineral crystals mined from the dark depths of the earth, organic gems created by the processes of life: all gems worthy of the name share the virtue of beauty.

 

But because beauty is in the eye of the beholder, it’s not always easy to categorize what’s beautiful and what’s not. An accepted definition of beauty holds that it is a combination of qualities that delight the senses or appeal to the mind. In other words, a beautiful thing may not make everyone react in the same way, but it will make everyone react: it will have visual appeal.

 

In fashion gemstones, visual appeal generally results from a combination of color, symmetry, and surface appearance. Of these factors, color is usually the most important for colored stones. From the deep green of a fine emerald to the changing colors of an opal, color is the first thing you notice in a colored stone. For this reason, it is often the first consideration when viewing colored stones.

 

Symmetry, the second factor, means balance and cutting harmony. A stone is most attractive when its shape and proportions are balanced, so certain carved details enhance a gem’s beauty.

 

The appearance of a gem’s surface, or luster, also influences its appeal. Most gems are polished to a high shine, pearls, which are not shaped in the same way as most other gems; they also owe part of their beauty to shine.

 

In addition to these three factors, transparency often plays an important role in a gem’s beauty. Transparency describes how light passes through an object. The more transparent an object is, the more light passes through it. Many gemstones are transparent, including emerald, garnet, and tanzanite. Light can pass through them with little to no distortion.

 

Opaque materials are at the other end of the transparency scale. An opaque piece of jewelry, such as a tungsten carbide ring or a stainless steel ring, does not let light through. Opaque colored stones include hematite and turquoise. Some gems, such as opal, have varying degrees of transparency ranging from transparent to opaque.

Not all gemstones have the same combination of these elements – jadeite can be dull and beautiful. On the other hand, a ruby ​​owes much of its beauty to the fact that it is transparent.

 

Some people may like one gemstone more than any other, but remember that ultimately your choice matters most. You will recognize that each colored stone has at least one strong element of beauty, and you will learn to appreciate it.

 

Rarity

 

Rarity is also a sliding scale, which means that some gems are rarer than others. Some are so rare that they are considered collector’s items. Gem-quality benitoite and red beryl, each found in only one place on earth, are occasionally used in jewelry. Because they are not as widely available as gemstones like sapphire and amethyst, they are unknown to most consumers. Most gemstones fall somewhere in the middle of the rarity scale.

 

Rarity doesn’t always make a gem valuable. The pink spinel, for example, is beautiful, long-lasting, and rare. Despite its virtues, pink spinel is generally absent from consumers’ shopping lists. Few people know about it, so there is very little demand for it.

 

The demand is unpredictable. Amber, prized in centuries past, is less appreciated today, although rare specimens can still fetch high prices. Similarly, jet, an opaque black organic gemstone, was extremely popular in Victorian England, but is virtually unknown in jewelry today.

 

Often clever marketing can influence consumer preference. If a major retailer backs a gem with an expensive advertising campaign, it is more likely to penetrate the market quickly, as was the case with tanzanite, the striking violet-blue gem from East Africa. But no matter how vigorously marketed, a gem must be beautiful and enduring, as well as rare, to deserve popular success. And it must be available in sufficient quantities to remain in the public consciousness for the long term.

 

Sustainability

 

Autumn leaves are gorgeous, with their rich, mottled wine reds and golden yellows and their graceful, symmetrical shapes. A child who put a scarlet leaf on a string to wear around his neck will soon find it brown and wrinkled. Blades, unlike gems, lack durability. The leaves fade, change shape, and decay. The gems last.

Durability is a combination of three factors: hardness, toughness, and stability. Hardness measures how well a gemstone resists scratching and abrasion like the hardness of tungsten rings. [http://www.copparijewelry.com]. Toughness is the ability to withstand breaking, chipping, and cracking.

 

Hardness and toughness are not the same. Topaz is a relatively hard stone, but it has little hardness. Jadeite is not as hard as topaz, but it is exceptionally hard.

 

Stability measures how well a gemstone resists the effects of light, heat, and chemicals. Cleaning solutions that make sapphire shine can damage peridot. Similarly, everyday sunlight can fade over time.

 

Low durability is the reason that beautiful minerals like fluorite and calcite are not generally used in jewelry. They can be polished and most people agree that both are beautiful. But they have very low hardness and poor toughness, so they are rarely used in jewelry.